{"id":23336,"date":"2014-11-01T12:12:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T01:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=23336"},"modified":"2019-04-13T23:56:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T13:56:25","slug":"the-gough-political-legacy-and-the-vision-thing-sarah_capper-column","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/the-gough-political-legacy-and-the-vision-thing-sarah_capper-column\/","title":{"rendered":"The #Gough political legacy and the vision thing: @sarah_capper column"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reading over the tributes to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who passed away last week, it\u2019s difficult to write a tribute to such a great political giant without admitting that I wasn\u2019t alive when Whitlam was in office.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up a decade later in the 80s, in a politically conservative household in the politically conservative state of Queensland, Whitlam was the stuff of folklore. I have memories of Bob Hawke as PM being yelled at during the nightly news, being told Keating was the \u2018devil\u2019, while Gough was supposedly the \u2018worst Prime Minister in history\u2019. In wanting to reject a lot of this conservative backdrop, and indeed the throws of the politics of the deep Nor\u2019 of Queensland, I was naturally drawn to Whitlam, and the old toe tapping footage of the 1972 election song \u2018It\u2019s Time\u2019, which, if ever there was a period when Australian politics seemed \u2018cool\u2019,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9jykIqQxEOw\">it\u2019s epitomised in this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9jykIqQxEOw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Admitting I wasn\u2019t alive during the Whitlam years, is in part to acknowledge members of the generations before, many of whom opined in tributes this week, of the great social change that enveloped Australia during that time of Whitlam winning office in 1972 after 23 years of conservative rule.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-three years. Eleven years of more recent conservative rule under the Howard Government provides just an inkling to younger generations of what this change would have felt like, but when Whitlam took over, it followed more than double that of Howard\u2019s run of conservative rule.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s what Victorian Women\u2019s Trust Executive Director Mary Crooks described this week to Channel Seven news as ushering in a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/video\/watch\/25314492\/the-whitlam-legacy\/\">the biggest breath of fresh air that wafted over this great continent.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s what feminist <a href=\"https:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/video\/watch\/25314492\/the-whitlam-legacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eva Cox referred to<\/a> in describing why 1972 \u201c<strong>was so significant and why it symbolises what can be done when courage and imagination combine to create serious change<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, despite not living through the Whitlam years, his short term in office provided a social legacy that is still sourced to this day, and one that has continuously been held up in feminist and community services.<\/p>\n<p>Of the news this week of the passing of the 98 year-old PM, we fired off this acknowledgement<wbr><\/wbr>\u00a0of some of the policies introduced by Whitlam which greatly affected women, on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VicWomensTrust?ref=bookmarks\">the Trust\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">The commitment to equal pay for women and greater workplace equity, the introduction of the Maternity Leave Act for Commonwealth employees, the banning of discrimination of female Commonwealth employees on the basis of pregnancy.<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">The introduction of the \u201cworld\u2019s first government advisor\u201d on women\u2019s affairs to a head of state, with Elizabeth Reid\u2019s appointment in 1973.<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">Establishment and funding of critical women\u2019s community services \u2013 including women\u2019s health organisations and rape and family violence refuges.<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">The introduction of No-Fault Divorce laws, the establishment of the Family Court of Australia, the introduction of the Single Mothers\u2019 Pension.<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">The removal of taxes on oral contraceptives and inclusion of the Pill on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And hugely, the Whitlam Government\u2019s ushering in of universal health care and free university education changed the face of women\u2019s experiences and that of life in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>The personal stories behind these legacies can\u2019t be underestimated \u2013 like the friends who have told me how Whitlam\u2019s changes to family law and introduction of the single mothers pension literally ensured they could be raised by mothers who would have otherwise stayed in abusive relationships, or worse, would not have been able to care for them.<\/p>\n<p>And the progress of women having been afforded access to tertiary education that otherwise would not have done so, combined with access to better pay conditions (however still lagging), that radically forced Australian workplaces into more equitable, improved and modern environments.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailylife.com.au\/news-and-views\/dl-opinion\/gough-whitlam-was-a-prime-minister-for-women-20141021-119bao.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eva Cox wrote this week in Fairfax\u2019 Daily Life<\/a>,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong> \u201cDespite the short tenure of the Whitlam government, the changes it put in place created a much better, fairer society which we still benefit from. Whitlam took social issues seriously so many out-groups, including women, benefitted. Women gained substantially, because we were, for the first time, treated like equal citizens and voters who had legitimate input into public policies.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Driving this social change, could be what writer Mungo MacCallum wrote about in this week\u2019s Australian newspaper:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c[What I] saw immediately in the man I first met in 1969 was not only a consuming interest in the affairs of the world and a desire to change them for the better; there was also a deep personal concern for people \u2014 not as a political abstraction, but as flesh and blood individuals. He was genuinely curious about my background and appeared seriously attentive about my opinions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThis, of course, is a trick most successful politicians develop. But in Whitlam\u2019s case it wasn\u2019t a trick; over the years I saw it over and over again. While he was capable of the odd temper tantrum and he never suffered fools gladly, by and large he was the kindest and most considerate of men.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In terms of what drove Whitlam in implementing great changes for Australian women, Eva Cox quotes former Labor Minister (and now Age Discrimination Commissioner) Susan Ryan:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cIn 1975 we were seen, because of the Whitlam policies, as leaders in the world for improving opportunities for women\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cBecause he was surrounded by strong, wonderful women, it never occurred to him that there was anything correct about treating women as second-class citizens,\u201d Ryan said (check out the full audio of Ryan\u2019s comments at the end of Cox\u2019 piece).<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes, the \u201cwomen of Australia\u201d have a lot to be grateful for, in terms of directly benefiting from the policies introduced by Whitlam \u2013 not just the generations that lived through it, but to this day, nearly forty years on.<\/p>\n<p>Despite what side of the political spectrum you lean on, many of these great social changes cannot be denied. The opportunities these policies provided, created a better, more modern and equitable Australia.<\/p>\n<p>And this spirit of equality, and indeed equity, and in what politicians often source as being about \u201cthe land of a fair go\u201d, is a lens in which we should hold close and never forget to apply.<\/p>\n<p>As feminists, we understand that vigilance is always required in terms of maintaining and bettering women\u2019s policy. Whitlam\u2019s legacy, while far reaching, remains under attack, to this day \u2013 whether it be in maintaining universal healthcare or affordable access to higher education. We need to remain vigilant about such changes to social policy, particularly in a climate where \u2018returning the budget to surplus\u2019 means making cuts which will create much more harm than good. And where groups remain marginalised, or worse, attacked through fear driven policies.<\/p>\n<p>In thinking about those three short years Whitlam was in power 40 years ago, it would be great to ask some of our current politicians, state and federal, what they would like to be remembered for \u2013 short term political gain, or long term change that benefits our social fabric and makes this a greater place to live?<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading over the tributes to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who passed away last week, it\u2019s difficult to write a tribute to such a great political giant without admitting that I wasn\u2019t alive when Whitlam was in office. Growing up a decade later in the 80s, in a politically conservative household in the politically conservative [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":23348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,585,43],"tags":[2590,1904,1863,2258,885,1623],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/whitlam.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-64o","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}